Aristophanes Wealth 651

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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Wealth. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1907.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Πλοῦτος (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.)

Translations (2)
Wealth (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 651 focus
English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 651 focus

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

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Line 666

κλέπτων δὲ τοὺς βλέποντας ὑπερηκόντικεν·
The verb ὑπερηκόντικεν (aorist active indicative 3rd sg. of ὑπερηκοντίζω) is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes and one of the few attested instances of this verb in all of Greek literature. The compound ὑπερηκοντίζω (to steal from a distance, or metaphorically 'to swindle from afar') is formed on the root ἠκοντίζω (to hit, strike, or shoot), with the prefix ὑπερ- suggesting an action performed beyond the usual reach. In this context, it creates a vivid comic image of Wealth (Πλοῦτος) stealing from the sighted not through proximity, but by some metaphorical or magical distance, playing on the irony that the blind are now seeing and the sighted are being robbed. The usage here is uniquely Aristophanic in its lexical invention and semantic play.

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ὀδὰξ ἐλαβόμην ὡς παρείας ὢν ὄφις.
The phrase ὡς παρείας ὢν ὄφις is a vivid metaphor comparing the speaker's deceptive, stealthy approach to that of a snake. The adjective παρείας (meaning 'on the side' or 'sideways') is rare in this specific context and likely refers to the snake's lateral movement or its tendency to strike from an unexpected angle, underscoring the duplicity of the speaker's actions. This construction highlights Aristophanes' use of animal imagery to critique human behavior, a recurring motif in his comedies.

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κἀγὼ τότʼ ἤδη τῆς ἀθάρης πολλὴν ἔφλων·
The verb φλῶ (present participle φλῶν) is a rare and dialectally marked form of φλύω, meaning 'to be drunk' or 'to be intoxicated.' While φλύω is the standard Attic form, Aristophanes frequently employs comic archaisms and dialectal variations for metrical or humorous effect. Here, the use of φλῶ (likely an Ionic or Doric variant, or a deliberate comic distortion) alongside the adverbial phrase τῆς ἀθάρης (a hapax legomenon or rare compound meaning 'of the unbridled' or 'of the reckless') creates a vivid, colloquial image of the character's state. The construction itself is straightforward, but the lexical choice is significant for understanding the comic tone and the character's self-deprecating admission of drunkenness.